Implementing Invoice Automation to Reduce Operational Costs

By CFO Tech Outlook | Monday, February 04, 2019

Today, businesses have been thriving to reduce the operating costs in the enterprise. In order to reduce the operational costs, the enterprises experience intense pressure. Invoice processing system plays a huge role in the enterprise operation. Deducting an additional cash flow in the invoice process may have an overall cost reduction in the operating system.

According to the IOFM survey, 39 percent of the business income has been spent on the invoice process. Many beneficial ways have been undertaken by companies to curb the amount wasted in the invoice processing. Online realm has been overwhelmed with many invoice software for categories including payroll processing, accounting, website hosting, and many more. Rather than picking up the expensive software with few features, pick up the software that is affordable and aims to provide efficient results.

Outsourcing is another area where the operation cost is high. Businesses started to hire outside vendors to complete the outsourcing process. Hiring an outside vendor decreases the amount spent. Some vendors provide discounts when the company ought to pay the invoice early before the due date. Cleverly, few enterprises start to bid with other outside vendors. If a small business enterprise involves in bidding two to three companies at a time, the company has to double check the resources available. Though availing outside vendor seems costly at the initial stage, it reduces the operation cost along with timely returns.

Leaving manual invoice, companies have been involved in adopting efficient, innovative resources. The resources will enable a company to have customized invoice processing. For instance, choosing the particular automated invoice process reduces duplicate payments, strengthen internal controls, and support audit efficiency. Many researchers including Rachelle Collins, the Principal Research Lead at APQC, also believes that the automated invoice processes pave a beneficial and profitable way to the enterprises.

Using automated invoice processes may reduce manual tasks and duplicate payments. According to APQC Open Standards Benchmarking data, around 58 percent of the invoices have been manually processed. If there is any duplication, the automation helps in detecting the duplication at every stage of the payment. Investing in automation is one of the effective ways to curb the money wasted on the invoice processing system.